Zemke Leads Every Lap of PPIR FX Race

AMA Chevrolet Superbike Series
Pikes Peak International Raceway
Round 7: Fountain, CO
May 23, 2004

Zemke scores fourth consecutive podium runner-up finish

Jake Zemke wasted no time establishing himself as the man to beat on his
Erion Honda CBR1000RR at Pike's Peak International Raceway. Zemke shot
straight to the top of the running order in qualifying, ultimately setting
a new track record by lapping the 1.315 mile road course in 53.775 seconds,
just .001 faster than Nicky Hayden's record mark from 2001. When the
checkered flag waved at the end of the day, Zemke had another second place
finish-his fourth in a row on the Superbike-with teammates Miguel Duhamel
and Ben Bostrom finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Zemke was confident in his speed coming into the weekend after setting the
pace in the three previous nationals. Jake's speed and consistency showed
throughout practice and qualifying, as he immediately established the time
to beat. "Our bike was good right out of the truck," said Zemke. "With all
the hard work my guys have put in, it's good to finally give them a pole
position and a track record for the Superbikes." (Zemke also took the
Formula Xtreme pole). Zemke also credited his Dunlop tires for his new
record. "This track is so hard on tires. It was kind of scary coming
through the fast turn two. I was on my knee and wide open from the middle
of that turn all the way until I stood the thing up to brake for turn three
coming back into the infield. Those tires they were holding up great."

Duhamel was second in qualifying, the veteran not happy with his flying lap
of 54.220. "This is one of these occasions where I'm not happy with what
we've got right now. I'm happy with the result, but it needs to be better.
And we're going to work on it and make it better for tomorrow for sure."

Ben Bostrom was fourth quickest at one point in Saturday qualifying, but
ultimately qualified on the second row in fifth position. Sunday morning
practice, however, brought dramatic changes for Bostrom, who found the
speed to post the third quickest lap times. Things also changed for
Duhamel, who found himself down on speed compared to the previous day. But
it was more of the same for Zemke, who again began and ended Sunday morning
practice with the quickest times.

Before the Superbike race waved off the line, Zemke and Duhamel put on an
epic battle in the 29-lap Xtreme race, with Zemke posting the win and
Duhamel second. Barely 30 minutes later, the two were once again on the
line for the Superbike final. This time, however, the start was a mixed bag
for the Red Riders. Zemke got away clean and emerged from turn one in third
behind leader Eric Bostrom and Mat Mladin. But both Duhamel and Ben Bostrom
suffered poor starts, which put them in a knot of riders going into the
first turn. Both Honda riders were squeezed hard in the middle of a pack,
and they headed out of turn one barely inside the top ten.  By the end of
the second lap, things had begun to sort out, and by the fourth lap Duhamel
had moved into fifth position with Ben in tow.

Up front, the race was going as Duhamel had predicted; Eric Bostrom, a
four-time Superbike winner at Pikes Peak, made a jackrabbit start, and
Zemke was giving chase in third. Jake's drive carried him past Mladin for
second on lap seven, and he began to close the gap for the lead. For the
next ten laps, Zemke kept his head down, whittling away at the lead lap by
lap until he was five bike lengths behind the leader on lap 22.

Meanwhile, Ben Bostrom had taken over fifth position from Duhamel, and the
two set a pace that carried them within striking distance of Aaron Yates in
fourth. But mid-way through the 48 lap race, Ben slowed suddenly, letting
Duhamel past. "I had developed a severe cramp in my back," said Ben. "I
could barely breath. I sat up and cruised around for a lap, and then I put
my head down and did a really fast lap. But by the end of that lap, I could
barely move again and my left arm was locking up."

With Ben out of it, Duhamel continued to pursue Yates. Late in the race,
Mladin made an unscheduled pit stop, dropping him to sixth, which made the
Duhamel/Yates battle a race for podium position. Every lap, Duhamel drew
Yates closer, and it all came down to a last lap charge to the checkers.
Duhamel took aim up the inside coming out of the last turn, but came up
half-a-bike length short of a podium spot at the line. "I had him lined up
in that last turn, but I just couldn't get the drive to get by," said
Duhamel, obviously not happy with his performance. "My start was pretty
terrible. You can't start in ninth place and expect to challenge for the
lead. That clutch will work better and I can tell you we will not have that
problem again. By the time I got away from the pack there, I was so far
back from the leaders. It's too bad because my bike was good enough for a
podium spot for sure."

Up front, Zemke continued to reel in the younger Bostrom, and on lap 30 he
showed him a wheel on the inside of turn three. Then the two riders hit a
gaggle of traffic, and Jake was held up enough to lose touch with the
leader. That's all it took to open a small gap that Zemke was not able to
close in the final laps; he finished second-for the fourth time in a row-by
a scant 1.13 seconds.

When asked in the press conference if he was disappointed, Zemke, always a
class act, said, "You can always dream and wish that the results were
different, but that's what happened on the track today. We got second and
we came out of here with valuable points in the championship." Zemke was
also noticeably fresh after the Superbike race, despite the additional
strain of racing-and winning-the Xtreme race just before the start of the
Superbike event. "The FX CBR600RR is so easy to ride that it's not
physically taxing. To tell you the truth, I was barely sweating after the
Superbike race. Both my bikes were great this weekend. On the Xtreme bike,
all we did was change the gearing here and go. And the CBR1000RR Superbike,
we made some minor changes, but we ended up back where we started. Both
bikes were great right off the truck."

With strong finishes by Zemke and Duhamel-plus an unexpected pit stop
during the race for Mladin that knocked him back to sixth place-the points
chase has tightened up, with Zemke moving into second just 19 points behind
Mladin, and four points ahead of Duhamel.

Next stop: The Road America double-header, where the mighty Honda CBR1000RR
will have room to stretch its legs. Stay tuned.

AMA Superbike Overall Results:
1. Eric Bostrom - Ducati
2. Jake Zemke - Honda
3. Aaron Yates - Suzuki
4. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
5. Ben Bostrom - Honda

AMA Superbike Point Standings:
1. Mat Mladin - Suzuki - 268
2. Jake Zemke - Honda - 249
3. Miguel Duhamel - Honda - 245
4. Eric Bostrom - Ducati - 184
5. Geoff May - Suzuki - 175
9. Ben Bostrom - Honda - 131



AMA Formula Xtreme
Pikes Peak International Raceway
Round 5: Fountain, CO
May 23, 2004

Zemke Leads Every Lap of PPIR FX Race

With Colorado's snow-capped Rocky Mountains towering in the background at
Pikes Peak International Raceway, the Honda Red Riders also loomed large in
round five of the AMA Formula Xtreme series. Erion Honda's Jake Zemke
captured the pole position in qualifying, followed by the Team Honda
CBR600RR of Miguel Duhamel. Erion Honda's Alex Gobert was just a tick
behind on the second row. In front of an enthusiastic crowd, Zemke took the
lead when the green flag dropped, and he led every lap to win the race-his
second consecutive victory-and maintain Honda's total dominance in the
series. Duhamel nailed down second place and Gobert finished sixth. With
this latest victory, the Honda CBR600RR upholds its perfect record for the
2004 Formula Xtreme season with five wins in five races.

After concluding his impressive pole run in qualifying, Zemke was extremely
pleased with his Honda CBR600RR. "I don't think we're going to make any
drastic changes to the bike," said Zemke. "The bike has been working good
pretty much straight out of the truck." Duhamel, the class points leader,
echoed Zemke's sentiments while describing his CBR600RR by saying, "We did
a couple of clicks here and there and the bike got better."

At the start of the race, Zemke shot off the line in the lead followed
closely by Duhamel. Zemke put in a series of fast laps that saw him build a
gap over Duhamel. However, it didn't take long for Miguel to close back up
as he began to challenge for the lead. Then on lap 17, disaster nearly
struck both Honda Red Riders. Zemke passed a lapped rider on the outside
going into turn three, and the startled lapper locked his front brake and
crashed right between the two Honda riders, nearly taking out Duhamel. Said
Duhamel, "The guy got spooked when Jake got by on the outside, and for
whatever reason he hit the brake and just about took Jake out. So I hit the
brakes hard, and thank goodness the brakes didn't lock or I could have lost
the front end."

Miguel's evasive action was all the break Zemke needed to open up a lead
that he would stretch to three seconds at the checkered flag. "At the start
of the race, I set a pretty good pace," said Zemke. "It wasn't blistering,
but I could see on the leader board Miguel and I were pulling away from
third. When I came by the start/finish line, I saw I had a half-second lead
on Miguel. Then we had the incident with the lapped rider, and that's when
I started to run my fastest laps and was able to stay ahead of Miguel."

With his win at Pikes Peak, Zemke moves within five points of Duhamel's
lead in the Formula Xtreme Championship chase, while Alex Gobert holds down
the third-place points standing. The next round will be held on June 4-6 at
Road America, situated in verdant Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

AMA Formula Xtreme Overall Results:
1. Jake Zemke - Honda
2. Miguel Duhamel - Honda
3. Doug Chandler - Ducati
4. Vincent Haskovec - Suzuki
5. Jason Pridmore - Suzuki
6. Alex Gobert - Honda


AMA Formula Xtreme Points Standings:
1. Miguel Duhamel-Honda - 175
2. Jake Zemke-Honda - 170
3. Alex Gobert-Honda - 137
4. Jacob Holden-Suzuki - 121
5. Vincent Haskovec-Suzuki - 108